Police Department Apologizes for Its Handling of Larry Nassar Allegations: 'We Wish We Had This One Back.'

While court is adjourned until tomorrow in the Eaton County, Michigan, sentencing of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, there is still news breaking around the case. The local police in Meridian Township convened a press conference Thursday afternoon to apologize for their initial handling of allegations against Nassar by Brianne Randall-Gay in 2004.

Randall-Gay, then 17, filed a sexual assault complaint to the local police that claimed Nassar touched her breast and vagina for several minutes during a visit that was meant to be an exam about her scoliosis but it was never prosecuted. Per a newly released police report, a few interviews were conducted but the lead detective concluded—after speaking to Nassar—that the reported abuse was a legitimate medical procedure. According to Deadspin, there is no indication that the police contacted other medical professionals for an opinion, nor did they contact Children's Protective Services. Deadspin also called Sgt. Al Spencer, who reportedly oversaw the case, and he told them, "To be honest with you, I don’t recall the case at all. I don’t have any memory of it.” McCready is still on the force, while Spencer is retired.

During the emotional press conference, Meridian Township manager Frank Walsh and Chief of Police Dave Hall publicly apologized to Randall-Gay, who participated via Skype from Seattle. Walsh and Hall both recounted the emotional phone call they made to Randall-Gay (and her family) to apologize for the mishandling of her case back in 2004. They offered to fly to Seattle to apologize in person, and when she let them know she had decided to come to read an impact statement at Nassar's sentencing, they offered to pay for her ticket. They were also in the courtroom that day. Both expressed gratitude for the grace that Randall-Gay had shown them in accepting their apology and vowed to make it a mission to not let this happen again.

To that point, Chief Hall outlined three initiatives for the township to undertake. First, they will be instituting new training procedures for all of their officers and civilian staff, bringing in experts from outside the force to conduct this training. Randall-Gay has also agreed to film a video about her own experience for the officers to learn from. The second initiative is to look back at all criminal sexual conduct reports (CSCs) from 2000 to the present day to make sure nothing has been missed. Hall confirmed that no other medical expert was consulted in Randall-Gay's case and that there is no reason to believe that the prosecutor's office was ever made aware of the case.

"We wish we had this one back," said Hall. "We want to do better." From this point forward, the chief will now sign off on all CSCs. And finally, Randall-Gay herself will be helping to develop a community-wide outreach program to help young people understand criminal sexual conduct and how to report it to the authorities.

Randall-Gay said that the apology has helped her further process her trauma. "It will not erase the pain I suffered, but it was therapeutic." She also vowed to continue to work toward systemic change, "I fight today…so the next little girl won't have to suffer for 14 years." It is incredibly powerful, even as a viewer, to watch people own their mistakes and try to make changes that will better their community. Let's hope others follow suit. As Walsh said, "We can't rewind the tape, but we can have an effect on the tape moving forward."